Attracting Workers: An Update From Brookings

Dan Santella reports:

Brookings, SD

When a business tries to attract potential employees, it's not just selling itself or the position- it's also selling a community and a home. Tonight we have an update for you on what one KELOLAND community is doing.

The Brookings Economic Development Corporation started the website liveinbrookings.com in December 2016. The reason was simple enough.

"We decided to launch liveinbrookings.com because Brookings was lacking a comprehensive one-stop-shop place to go to learn about the community and to search for jobs," Stacy Aesoph, director of workforce development with the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, said.

The website's traffic has jumped 157 percent. The City of Brookings is looking for a new city manager; Jeffrey Weldon is set to retire this summer.

"We're trying to move the process along very quickly, so that we have the position filled prior to his retirement June 30th," Donna Langland, human resources director with the City of Brookings, said.

"Like the rest of South Dakota, Brookings is in need of workers," Aesoph said.

But not just for entry-level jobs.

"We're also looking at the baby boomer generation," Aesoph said. "More people are retiring, and so, we also are going to see an increase in the need of management-level positions, and that's where our marketing really comes into play,"